Reforms at a 'critical juncture'

The increasingly volatile global markets set the scene for Premier Li Keqiang's press conference on the last day of the National People's Congress annual session. Li reiterated what he had already said in the Government Work Report: China has reached a "critical juncture where our path upward is particularly steep".

As Li sees it, the basic conditions underpinning development are undergoing profound changes as "deep-seated problems are surfacing, painful structural adjustments need to be made, the pace of economic growth is changing, and downward pressure on the economy remains great".

That's the challenging part of the story. But there is another side to it as well. China continues to have the foundations-including potential for industrialization and urbanization-to maintain a significant rate of growth for some time to come.